Self Improvement Articles

Should You Get Weight Loss Surgery?

You may have been overweight all your life, and your slowing metabolism has caused you to put on even more pounds since you turned 50. It is even harder than before to lose weight the natural way, and you know that obesity only cuts your life shorter. Is weight loss surgery recommended for a person like you? The answer is, it could be.

Weight loss surgery has transformed many celebrities like Al Roker and Star Jones, which has put the surgery on the map for many people looking to lose weight. As a matter of fact, weight loss surgery procedures have tripled since 2001. However, like get rich quick schemes, there are risks to quick weight loss schemes as well. If you are looking at weight loss surgery, talk to your doctor first. This procedure should never be a first option, it should always be a last resort. If you are only overweight, meaning your BMI is less than 30, you do not need to do this procedure. Weight loss surgery is recommended only for the clinically obese. There are doctors who will operate on you if you are not obese, but it is generally not recommended.

If you are to go under the knife, keep in mind that you will have to change a lot of things about your lifestyle. You may need to start working out more. You may need to change and monitor what you eat. This is especially due to the fact that the most common surgical procedure is gastric bypass surgery, which involves the sealing off of most of a person’s stomach, cutting the person’s appetite. You will need to eat less complex proteins and fats, as a lot of the processing of these nutrients takes place in the stomach. Complications will arise if you do not change your eating habits after having the surgery. Also, you should know that 1 in 200 patients die due to this procedure.

You may be asking if your advanced age would be a contributing factor to the risks associated with bariatric surgery. Fortunately, the answer is leaning towards no. Studies have been conducted that show there is no increased risk to people over the age of 50 compared to those younger than them. As a matter of fact, baby boomers seem to be the fastest growing demographic to get bariatric surgery. When a person can lose over 50 pounds and feel good about his or herself, then the procedure is definitely worth it. The risk of dying within 30 days of bariatric surgery is just 0.21%, compared to 0.12% for adults aged 35 to 49. Your chance may even decrease once your weight, gender, and heart health is taken into account.

So if you are looking to lose the pounds, talk to your doctor about your options. They may not be as black and white as you see it. Ensure that before you even consider weight loss surgery, you make an effort to change your diet, change your lifestyle, and exercise more. You may find that you don’t need surgery after all.

Controlling Hunger to Prevent Binge Eating

When your blood sugar is low, there are special hormones in your blood and stomach that tell your brain that you need to take in more food. Well, this is how the whole hunger and feeding mechanism is supposed to work. However, there are other factors which increase a person’s appetite, and can cause them to eat more than they should. If you believe that your appetite is too large, you will have to do some introspection to see what could be the problem. You may have to visit the doctor as well. Increased appetite is usually not life-threatening, however, overeating can cause health problems down the line.

If you find that your hunger is not relieved by portions that used to do the job in the past, then you will have to look at what changed in your life since then. If you have started an exercise regimen recently, or you have been more active, then your body will need more energy to meet the increased demands, which increases your appetite. If this is the case, it won’t be much of a problem unless you’ve been putting the wrong foods into your body. Eat more proteins and vegetables and do not go overboard on your carbohydrates, which can make you fat. Your carbohydrates include your starches and your sugars.

There are other factors that cause an increase in appetite. One of these is your mental health, due to common issues such as stress, anxiety and depression. It has been proven that when a person is stressed or depressed, a person will most likely eat more. Not only will they eat more, but they will eat more mood-elevating foods such as simple carbohydrates, also known as your sugars. Healthy foods do elevate your mood, but sugar does a much quicker job. The bad news is that the high you get from intaking sugar doesn’t last long, which causes you to eat even more sugar to compensate. If you believe you are depressed, you should visit your nearest psychologist or psychiatrist, and they will tell you what steps you should take. If you have been stressed out recently, start decreasing the amount of stress you allow in your life. For example, at work, ask for less hours or less projects to work on. You may be paid less, but your health is more important.

Other factors include mismanagement of a diet. Have you gone on one of those diets that asks you to cut out carbs completely? These diets hardly ever work, as people crave even more carbs than normal when they go on these diets. Do you feel light headed at times? Then you may need to visit the doctor. Increased appetite and light headedness are symptoms of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. Your doctor may prescribe drugs to correct the problem, and also tell you how to manage your diet. You might also look at any medications you are taking. There are some prescribed drugs that can cause an increase in appetite, for instance, antidepressant drugs, ironically.

There are small things you can do to control your hunger. One of these is dividing your meals into more meals, which means you are eating more times throughout the day. You won’t feel hungry all the time, and you will actually lose weight this way. If all else fails, talk to your doctor.